How To Modify Messages Properties File
How To Modify Messages Properties File
Contents
Overview
There may be occasions where the standard wording upon fields, buttons, webpage titles etc in the AuthControl Sentry SSO Portal is not suitable for your organisation, or the way in which you have integrated the software. This article describes how to modify the messages properties file. Described below is the method for locating and editing the necessary file on the command line on the Swivel Secure appliance.
Pre-requisites
- Knowledge of either:
- vi editor
- nano editor
- Linux command line
- Access to the Swivel Secure appliance command line
Location the messages_en.properties file
The file is located under /usr/local/tomcat/webapps2/sentry/WEB-INF/classes/messages_en.properties
Backup the messages_en.properties file
It is recommended to backup the file and take an offline copy of the modified file. A backup of the original is recommended in case you need to restore it. A copy of the modified file is recommended because modification of this file is not yet upgrade safe at time of writing. To take a backup of the original file, run the following command prior to making your modification:
cp /usr/local/tomcat/webapps2/sentry/WEB-INF/classes/messages_en.properties /root/messages_en.properties.original
To take a backup of the modified file, run the following command after making your modification:
cp /usr/local/tomcat/webapps2/sentry/WEB-INF/classes/messages_en.properties /root/messages_en.properties.modified
Edit the messages_en.properties file
You can use nano or vi to modify the file. These editing programs are shipped by default with the Operating System. If you wish to install another editor, you can do so by running the yum command to install a different editor package e.g. to install vim:
yum install vim
To edit the file, prepend the absolute path of the filename with the editor command of your choice e.g.
vi /usr/local/tomcat/webapps2/sentry/WEB-INF/classes/messages_en.properties
or e.g.:
nano /usr/local/tomcat/webapps2/sentry/WEB-INF/classes/messages_en.properties
You can now locate the property you wish to modify within the file and make the necessary changes.
Example modifications
Change the username field
By default the Username field prompts for ‘Username’, but if you are using a federated ID of email address, it makes sense to prompt the user for an ‘Email Address’ instead. To change this field to ‘Email Address’, locate the login.username attribute in the properties file:
Change from Username to Email Address as below.
Save the file. To apply the changes you have made to the properties file, restart Tomcat from the main menu of the CMI.
Before:
After:
Apply the changes
To apply the changes you have made to the properties file, restart Tomcat from the main menu of the CMI. Remember, if you have a HA Pair installation with Primary and Standby machines, you will need to modify (and backup) this file on both machines. Note: These changes are not upgrade safe.
Troubleshooting
Q. After updating the appliance my modifications have been lost!
A. These changes are not upgrade safe, you must backup your modifications and be prepared to re-apply them one attribute at a time. Do not replace the file after upgrade, in case there are additional attributes added to the application after an update.
